Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Ultra-Wide-Band Optical Pulses in Propagation

The propagation of ultrashort coherent electromagnetic pulses with broad spectral bandwidth in free space is studied by using scalar diffraction theory. It is confirmed and experimentally demonstrated that the diffraction not only affects the spatial structure but also changes the temporal waveform of an ultra-wide-band pulse during propagation. The terahertz pulse travelling as basic mode of Gaussian beam is discussed in detail.